OK, Nou, sorry I can't help.

What's this income tax thing anyway? I thought European countries all used a VAT.

Is this a joke or are you being serious? Sorry, just trying to be careful. If you're being serious... in Europe, we have all sort of lovely taxes. VAT (currently 16% in Germany), income tax, social insurance, etc. etc. I believe our tax burden is comparable to the US on the whole, though.

The last comment we got about this thread title was that it was offensive.

Angus, I think perhaps you're forgetting who it was that found it offensive....

Glad to hear you're feeling better and drunk!

Nope, paying the VAT doesn't get you out of income taxes - the GST in Canada, for instance, replaced the manufacturers tax, so you're now directly paying a tax that in the past you didn't see, though it's cost was built into the price of goods. (In theory, the cost of goods should have come down to reflect the reduced cost to the producer. Probably that did happen in some cases, but I imagine not all.)

I think I heard about the VAT in editorials about doing away with the income tax. Then when I was living in Spain for a semester, I saw the VAT stickers, but I didn't see anyone filing tax forms, of course. Boo for taxes. Do UnAmericans have the ritual of the annual refund?

OK, so it's about lunchtime in New Zealand and one of my babies is asleep and the other is watching Blue's Clues, and I'm... obsessing about Buffy. About it ending. About my adolescent Spuffy fantasies poofing into dust (that's what I fear anyway). Maybe I shall have to go and live in some hermetically sealed fanfiction bubble.

Is there a cure for this? Maybe the fact that I am going through marital apocalypse is a good enough excuse. All my angst is subliminated into a TV show. Admittedly a deserving TV show.

It's a pity Dru's nuttiness isn't hereditary, because crazy vampire puppies? It's comedy gold! But now I'm having horrible memories of Bunnicula, that annoying vegetarian vampire rabbit. That's not so funny.

I LOVE BUNNICULA! (As does Jilli, IIRC... wasn't Bunnicula part of the inspiration for Clovis?) Also, my mom is working on a project with James Howe, who wrote the Bunnicula books, so he is therefore cool by association even if the books weren't wonderful themselves.

Also, my mom is working on a project with James Howe, who wrote the Bunnicula books, so he is therefore cool by association even if the books weren't wonderful themselves.

I think whenever I read them I was uneducated in the vampirc genre, so it just annoyed me that he didn't actually eat anybody, rather than it being all ironically cute and such. But I just found Celery Stalks At Midnight on Amazon, and that's the best title ever, so I'll be quiet now.

it just annoyed me that he didn't actually eat anybody, rather than it being all ironically cute and such.

You were a very bloodthirsty child! (Or did you read them when you were older?) I only dimly recall anything about them--I just remember I loved them. Also? My mom says James Howe is a sweetie.

Do UnAmericans have the ritual of the annual refund?

I do. Except that it's called an "annual tax balance" instead.

Do UnAmericans have the ritual of the annual refund?

Yep. I'm in the enjoyable situation of getting to submit tax returns twice each year, six months apart, once in Australia and once in the US.

You were a very bloodthirsty child!

'Tis true. I watched The Smurfs religiously because I thought some of them had to get eaten eventually and I didn't want to miss seeing it happen. Wait--was that wizard guy going to eat them, or did he just want to cook them so they would turn into gold? Maybe it was the wizard's cat that wanted to eat them. Either way I wanted someone to do violence to those blue sanctimonious little snots.

Edited because the spelling troll gods are pissed at me.